Beware, young pop culturites, for the great day of reckoning is upon us. Repent, for this Sunday come the Awards of the Academy!
I used to care about the Oscars. Really, I used to. My brother would often mock the level to which I got involved, saying that it wasn't like I actually had a hand in any of the nominated films. True, but it was never the case that he had a spot on the bench of the New Jersey Nets.
The way I saw it, Oscar Night is the Super Bowl for movie geeks. You can throw parties, make bets and get terribly disappointed. Hell, both are even awkwardly positioned on a Sunday, forcing one to do his or her homework early in the weekend - or most likely, not at all.
As you may have noticed though, you are reading a column called "When Pop Culture Goes Bad." So, clearly, my opinion is not what it once was.
I do not really know when it happened. It may have been when "Crash" (2004) won. Now, I'm not one of those people who think that it was the most grievous sin to the gay rights movement that "Brokeback Mountain" (2005) did not take home the golden little guy. I believe the mere fact that Crash was nominated was a tragedy. And do not get me started on the screenplay.
It was then that I really started thinking of the Oscars as a whole. For example, a lot of people said that "Brokeback Mountain" lost because it was the favorite, because the Academy did not want to come off as too predictable, because all of the magazines would be able to brag "We were right!" if it won.
But, um, the role of awards (or at least, in my humble, na've opinion) is not to provide shocks and surprises to the viewers and recipients. They're supposed to honor excellence, not contend with the latest episode of "Heroes" for number of gasps per minute. It's the equivalent of Tufts rejecting the 18-year-old opera composer in favor of the coke-snorting dropout just so they can say in their letter, "Betcha didn't see that one coming, eh?"
[Aside: I've yet to see "Heroes." People keep recommending it to me because I'm a comic book fan, but, as I mentioned in a column last semester, I'm terribly skeptical of shows that you MUST watch. Of course, then again, "24" is one of those shows. Perhaps I should pay a visit to the iTunes store soon ... tune in later for future details.]
The sad reality is the Oscars are more about the Oscars than about the movies themselves. Magazines predict what movies are going to be nominated for the love of God! They even predict what movies are not going to be nominated but probably should! Then, after the entirety of the nominations and winners and snubs and what-have-you are listed, they proceed to all pat themselves on the back for what a grand job they did at predicting the nominees and how gravely, but predictably, certain films were snubbed.
Then, of course, they praise the Academy for giving a few good shockers, the likes of which we have not seen since Maggie Simpson shot Mr. Burns. I'm sorry, but can't we just have an awards show and that is the end of it? What's next? Is Entertainment Weekly going to predict Rolling Stones predictions for what will be nominated? Will the Academy have an award for "Best Film That We So Wrongfully Snubbed This Year?"
When you sit down and think about it, approximately four months of the year are spent to the entertainment industry telling itself what a damn good job it has done this year. First, there are the lists of the best films, shows, etc. for the year (and loyal pop culture enthusiasts will know how I feel about lists). Then there are the predictions and nominations and more predictions and awards and reactions to awards. One can only wonder how Hollywood has enough time to squeeze in actually making films with all of this self-congratulation.
So this year, I am taking a stand. I have refused to see any film simply because it was up for a lot of awards. I gauge my interest not by predictions, but by my instincts and thoughts. I always have.
For, in the end, it is just random members of the Hollywood elite trying to tell us what is good. Yet, as they have proved time after time after time (and what Oscar-enthusiasts ironically like to constantly harp upon), they are just as fallible as we are when choosing what is really the best the film industry has to offer. Who cares if some people say I'm a grouch, I'm saying no to Oscar.
